Hell
Hell is the realm where the souls of the damned are sent to suffer for all eternity. It is ruled by the Seven Princes of Hell: Lucifer (who represents Pride) Mammon (who represents Greed) Asmodeus (who represents Lust) Leviathan (who represents Envy) Beelzebub (who represents Gluttony) Satan (who represents Wrath) Belphegor (who represents Sloth) Hell is divided into nine Circles: Limbo *First Circle of Hell *Here lie the souls of those that were not sinful, but lacked the needed portal of faith. *It is in Limbo where the souls of the damned are sentenced to their suffering by King Minos. Lust *Second Circle of Hell *Here lie the souls of those that let their desire override reason. *In Lust, there is a hurricane of souls that constantly rages across the Circle. Gluttony *Third Circle of Hell *Here lie the souls of those that devoted themselves to self-indulgence. *In Gluttony, there are endless storms of mud and human waste. Greed *Fourth Circle of Hell *Here lie the souls of those that either horded possessions, or squandered them. *In Greed, there are seas of molten gold, where the souls of the damned can be seen screaming. Anger *Fifth Circle of Hell *Here lie the souls of those who let anger rule their lives. *In Anger, the damned are cursed to drown in the marshes of the river Styx, and the lower Circles lie behind the walls of the City of Dis, the city walls guarded by fallen angels. Heresy *Sixth Circle of Hell *Here lies the souls of every heretic and follower of every cult. *In Heresy, the souls of the damned are trapped inside of flaming tombs. Violence *Seventh Circle of Hell *Here lie the souls of those that were violent against others, against self, and against God. *Violence is broken up into three parts: the Outer, Middle, and Inner Rings. The Outer Ring holds those violent against people and property, and the souls here are immersed in Phlegethon, a river of boiling blood and fire. Centaurs patrol here, and shoot the souls with arrows should they try to get out of the river. The Middle Ring holds the Forest of Suicides, where the souls are turned into gnarled trees and shrubs, then fed upon by Harpies. The Inner Ring is where blasphemers, sodomites, and usurers reside in desert of flaming sand and fiery flakes rain from the skies. Fraud *Eighth Circle of Hell *Here lie the souls of those that manipulated others for their own goals. *Fraud is divided into ten trenches, called Bolgia. Each Bolgia holds a different kind of fraudulent souls: **Bolgia 1: Panderers and seducers march in separate lines in opposite directions, whipped by demons. **Bolgia 2: Flatterers are steeped in human excrement, which represents the words they produced. **Bolgia 3: Those who committed simony are placed head-first in holes in the rock with flames burning on the soles of their feet. **Bolgia 4: Sorcerers, astrologers, and false prophets here have their heads twisted around on their bodies backward, referring primarily to attempts to see into the future by forbidden means. **Bolgia 5: Corrupt politicians are immersed in a lake of boiling pitch, which represents the sticky fingers and dark secrets of their corrupt deals. **Bolgia 6: Hypocrites listlessly walking along wearing gilded lead cloaks, which represent the falsity behind the surface appearance of their actions. **Bolgia 7: Thieves are pursued and bitten by snakes and lizards. The full horror of the thieves' punishment is revealed gradually: just as they stole other people's substance in life, their very identity becomes subject to theft here, and the snake bites make them undergo various transformations. **Bolgia 8: Fraudulent advisers or evil counselors are concealed within individual flames. These are not people who gave false advice, but people who used their position to advise others to engage in fraud. **Bolgia 9: A sword-wielding demon hacks at the Sowers of Discord, dividing parts of their bodies as in life they divided others. As they make their rounds the wounds heal, only to have the demon tear apart their bodies again. **Bolgia 10: Various sorts of falsifiers (alchemists, counterfeiters, perjurers, and impostors), who are a "disease" on society, are themselves afflicted with different types of diseases. Treachery *Ninth Circle of Hell *Here lie the souls of those who betrayed that which matters most. *There are four concentric zones, or "rounds", to Treachery, each in descending order of seriousness, from betrayal of family ties, to betrayal of community ties, betrayal of guests, and betrayal of liege lords. **Round 1: Named Caïna, after Cain, who killed his brother. Traitors to kindred are here immersed in the ice up to their chins. **Round 2: Named Antenora, after Antenor of Troy, who according to medieval tradition, betrayed his city to the Greeks. Traitors to political entities, such as parties, cities, or countries, are located here and imprisoned in the same way as the traitors in Caïna. **Round 3: Named Ptolomaea, after Ptolemy, son of Abubus, who invited Simon Maccabaeus and his sons to a banquet and then killed them. Traitors to their guests are punished here, lying supine in the ice, which covers them, except for their faces. They are punished more severely than the previous traitors, since the relationship to guests is an entirely voluntary one. **Round 4: Named Judecca, after Judas Iscariot, Biblical betrayer of Christ. Here are the traitors to their lords and benefactors. All of the sinners punished within are completely encapsulated in ice, distorted in all conceivable positions. *This is the Circle that the Princes of Hell call home. Category:Locations Category:Afterlife